A while back, Dave Reynolds (creator/artist of Shadowgirls) wrote this wonderful article about Ellium and I wanted to present it again heere. I’ve changed the titles of stories so they match what was actually published online, but other than that, this is what was written. Enjoy and swing by his comic to see some great work!
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Stubbornness will take you far.
No really, I remember when six years ago Jason Moser came to me about some idea of a girl getting a sword from her recently dead father, which would thrust her deeper into a world of conspiracy and supernaturalism. You know what I told him?
“Hey Jason, you remember that old Nintendo game, Ninja Gaiden? It sounds just like that! Except with a chick.” Well, one middle finger later, he ignored my dumb joke and moved on and started to work the idea out on paper. And after tweaking the initial premise over and over again, the only thing ELLIUM has in common with Ninja Gaiden is that there’s a sword in the story. So I had to move on and start making fun of him on other topics. Hey, he’s my best friend. If I can’t insult him, who can I insult?
All joking aside, ELLIUM has turned out to not just be a labor of love for Jason, but myself as well. I’ve stood by him and helped him plot out and refine the story for so long, the character of Angelica Cain has become more real to us than actual people we know. So after a few years of plotting and planning, ELLIUM debuted with book one in the fall of 2003, with some pretty decent critical acclaim. What started off as a bunch of idea pitching between two college friends had turned into a rather epic story of love and political intrigue.
ELLIUM had evolved into this rather intriguing story about a war between two secret societies. Not because they’re trying to rule the world… They already do. We just don’t realize it… But because they’re trying to destroy each other. “ELLIUM: RISE OF THE FALLEN (first 5 issues)” merely touched on the iron clad grasp the two societies, the Ellium and the Plato Continuum, have on the world. But in “TALES OF THE ELLIUM (HYBRID)” we get to fully grasp the depths of the total control of these powers, and more importantly, how absolute power corrupts absolutely. We’re shown the eccentricity of Doctor Sutton, the bloodline of the succubus Riel, the heart and drive of an agent wanting to do the right thing, and the mind of a mad transsexual. (See the critically acclaimed story “Fair Play” for that one!)
Also introduced in TALES OF THE ELLIUM are two characters Samantha Snow and Chris Hendricksen, who not only take up integral roles in the mythos that is the Ellium, but also end up directly affecting the lives of ELLIUMS’ two protagonists, Angelica Cain and Jonathon Kassad.
TALES OF THE ELLIUM features stories by some of independent comic’s finest creators, including Ulf Imwiehe (LUCIFER FAWKES: ORCUS EX MACHINA), Chad Lambert (Upcoming POINT PLEASANT), and Paul Tucker (AIT- PLANET LAR’S PROOF OF CONCEPT).
-Dave Reynolds
Author of Ellium: Fair Play
